The impact of overturning and horizontal circulation in pine Island trough on ice shelf melt in the eastern Amundsen Sea

30Citations
Citations of this article
60Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

The ice shelves around the Amundsen Sea are rapidly melting as a result of the circulation of relatively warm ocean water into their cavities. However, little is known about the processes that determine the variability of this circulation. Here we use an ocean circulation model to diagnose the relative importance of horizontal and vertical (overturning) circulation within Pine Island Trough, leading to Pine Island and Thwaites ice shelves. We show that melt rates and southwardCircumpolar Deep Water (CDW)transports covary over large parts of the continental shelf at interannual to decadal time scales. The dominant external forcing mechanism for this variability is Ekman pumping and suction on the continental shelf and at the shelf break, in agreementwith previous studies.At the continental shelf break, the southward transport of CDWand heat is predominantly barotropic. Farther south within Pine Island Trough, northward and southward barotropic heat transports largely cancel, and the majority of the net southward temperature transport is facilitated by baroclinic and overturning circulations. The overturning circulation is related to water mass transformation and buoyancy gain on the shelf that is primarily facilitated by freshwater input from basal melting.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Webber, B. G. M., Heywood, K. J., Stevens, D. P., & Assmann, K. M. (2019). The impact of overturning and horizontal circulation in pine Island trough on ice shelf melt in the eastern Amundsen Sea. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 49(1), 63–83. https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-17-0213.1

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free